Colleges' Bank Deals Saddle Students With Debt

A public interest group says as many as 900 colleges are pushing students into using payment cards that carry hefty costs, sometimes even to access students' financial aid money.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group Higher Education Fund
says in a report published Wednesday that colleges and banks often
make secretive deals allowing them to rake in millions from the
fees. The report says some of the fees appear to violate federal
law.

The report says more than 9 million people, or two out of five U.S. higher-education students, attend schools that have deals with financial companies.

The fees add to the mountain of debt many higher-education
students must take on. U.S. student debt tops $1 trillion, and has
surpassed credit cards as the biggest source of unsecured debt.